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Columbus City Schools says about 74 percent of its third-graders can move on to the fourth grade
next year, under the terms of the state’s new third-grade reading guarantee.

About 69 percent of the district’s third-graders had passed the cut-off score on the state
reading test by this spring, about 27 percentage points higher than last fall. Add in another 5
percent who are not bound by the guarantee, such as special education students, and almost
three-fourths of the district’s third-graders will move on.

The previous school year, 2012-13, the district showed a 14 percentage-point gain in students
actually passing the test between fall and spring. By May 2013, 54 percent had passed the cut-off
score of 392. So the district did much better this year in teaching kids to read, the results
show.

“The District’s research-based efforts are yielding meaningful gains,” Superintendent Dan Good
said in a written statement released yesterday with the preliminary results. “While there is still
much ground to cover, there is evidence that our schools are moving in the right direction.

“Third-grade reading performance has been our highest priority over the past year, and our staff
has worked incredibly hard — and will continue to work incredibly hard — to ensure that our
third-graders receive as much support as possible in order to improve their performance on the Ohio
Achievement Assessment.”

Still, the 26 percent who haven’t passed the test represents almost 1,000 third-graders who may
be held back in the third grade this fall, based on the district’s reported number of
third-graders. Those students can take the test again in July, said district spokesman Jeff
Warner.

Parents who still want to enroll their children in summer school should contact the district,
Warner said.

In South-Western schools, about 73 percent of third-graders met the third-grade bar in the fall.
The district released data yesterday that showed more than 84 percent now have passed. That
includes students with special needs or those who already were held back in third grade.
South-Western is the second-largest district in Franklin County, with about 20,000 students.

That means about 250 students may have to retake the third grade in South-Western schools.

Columbus began a number of programs to prepare students, included expanding summer school,
implementing an 800-volunteer “Reading Buddies” program, creating a parent workshop, and working
with the Columbus Metropolitan Library for after-school reading.

More than a third of Ohio’s third-graders failed the fall test, amounting to tens of thousands
of students. But state officials cautioned districts that, since the guarantee didn’t apply to all
students and they expected improvement on follow-up tests, the number would fall dramatically.

The Columbus district couldn’t immediately break down the numbers by school, leaving the
possibility that some buildings may have to hold back large numbers of third-graders this fall.
Individual school results are to be released by the state Department of Education today, said
spokesman John Charlton.